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Time’s Up
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08/06/2006
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With over five million tonnes of hazardous waste produced each year in England and Wales, half of which ends up in landfill, the time for action against hazardous substances has long since passed in many eyes. RoHS represents the first major step at the design-in stage to minimise the use of hazardous substances within Europe.
The RoHS Directive bans the placing on the EU market of new electrical and electronic equipment containing more than agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants from 1 July 2006. RoHS takes its scope broadly from the WEEE Directive and requires manufacturers to ensure that products – and components – comply in order to stay on the single market.
With the deadline just a matter of weeks away, Farnell in One surveyed its customers and found that despite several years of preparation by Government, industry bodies, and many individual companies, industry as a whole is still relatively unprepared. Of 263 UK design engineers and buyers interviewed, only 12% said they were fully RoHS compliant in readiness for the 1st July 2006 deadline. Some 37% revealed that they were ‘close to becoming compliant’, whilst 28% admitted to having only just ‘started to become compliant’.
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Author
Graham Pitcher
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